Pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms.



A. A. GORDON, JR. 6; E. H. RYON.

PATTERN OPERATED CONTROLUNG MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. I914.

1,179,423. Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

A A. GORDON, JR. & E. H. RYON.

PATTERN OPERATED CONTROLUNG MECHANlSM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. 1914.

1,179,423. Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

3 SHEETS SHEET 2.

WvY Ym Pe/ma ij THE comma PLANoanAPn 01., WASHINGTON, Dv c.

A. A. GORDON, JR. & E. H RYON.

PATTERN OPERATED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR L0 APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, l9l4.

- .mml I A I" 595 I 591 rl-IB COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH pm, WASHINUTOMD. O.

OMS.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT A. GORDON, JR., OF WORCESTER, AND EPPA H. BYON, OF WALTHAM, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO CROMPTON & KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PATTERN-OPERATED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

Application filed May 28, 1914. Serial No. 841,642.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALBERT A. GORDON, Jr., and EPPA H. RYON, citizens of the United States, said GORDON residing at \Vorcester, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, and said RYON residing at Waltham, county of MiddleseX, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Pattern-Operated Controlling Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms and particularly to a mechanism of this type in which a plurality of pattern chains or similar devices are employed.

In its most common application, the invention includes two or more indicating levers which by their actual or relative changes in position determine the operation of box changing or other mechanism in the loom to which the device is applied.

The principal object of our invention is to improve the construction and to simplify the operation of the devices which actuate and control the indicating levers.

Vith this object in view a feature of our invention consists in the provision of aprimary pattern mechanism for controlling a plurality of indicating levers, in combination with a device for at times preventing the feeding of the pattern mechanism, the latter device being directly under the control of each one of a plurality of secondary pattern mechanisms.

In the form shown in the drawings, the primary pattern mechanism consists of a pattern chain supported and operated by a pattern cylinder having a ratchet wheel secured thereto, and the device which prevents the feeding of the primary pattern mechanism consists of a shield adapted to raise a feed pawl out of operative relation to the ratchet wheel. The shield is directly controlled by any one of a plurality of levers which are each positioned and actuated by one of the secondary pattern mechanisms.

Another feature of the invention contemplates the provision, in certain embodiments thereof, of two primary pattern mechanisms eachdirectly engaging and controlling the same indicating levers, together with separate devices for preventing the feeding of the primary pattern mechanisms, each of said latter devices being directly under the control of each of the secondary pattern mechanisms and also directly under the control of the other primary pattern mechanism.

Our invention also contemplates the provision of means whereby similar devices or shields are provided for preventing the feeding of each one of the secondary pattern mechanisms, said devices being each directly controlled by either one of the primary pattern mechanisms.

A further feature of our invention consists in the provision of an improved and symmetrical arrangement of the several pattern mechanisms whereby the number of parts in the device as a whole is materially reduced and the construction of the separate parts is greatly simplified.

In addition of the features of invention above referred to, Our invention consists in certain devices, arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter referred to and more specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of our invention is shown in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the pattern operated controlling mechanism; Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations partly in section taken substantially along the lines 2--2 and 33 in Fig. 1; Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatic views showing the relation and operation of certain of the parts.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a pair of indicating levers 10 and 11 are pivotally mounted upon a rod 12 secured at each end to frame members 13 and 14, said members being connected by a cross girt 14 The indicating levers 10 and 11 are provided with hooks upon their inner ends adapted to receive links or rods (not shown) by which they may be connected to indicating or operating mechanism of any desired form.

As most commonly used the levers 10 and 11 are connected to the indicating devices of a drop box mechanism which controls the position of the shuttle boxes, in aloom using a plurality of shuttles. This mechanism is of such a character that when both of the levers are in their lower position a certain shuttle will be in operation. When the lever 10 is raised a second shuttle will be substituted for the first in operative position. If the lever 10 returns to its lower position and the lever 11 is raised, a third shuttle will be placed in operative position while if both levers 10 and 11 are raised a fourth shuttle will be made operative. In this manner it will be seen that the actual or relative changes in position of the indicating levers 10 and 11 determine which shuttle shall be placed in operative position in the loom. All of the connections from the indicating levers 10 and 11 may be of any well known form and constitute no part of our invention.

The levers 10 and 11 are positioned abox e a pattern cylinder 20 which supports and operates a pattern chain 21. Rolls 22 are mounted upon the pattern chain 21 and when moved to position below the levers 10 or 11 they are effective to move the levers from their lower to their upper position. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that we have also provided an additional pattern cylinder 30 which is axially alined with the cylinder 20. a

The principal feature of our invention relates to the provision of improved operating and controlling mechanisms for the pattern cylinders 20 and 30 and their associated parts, which constitute the primary pattern mechanisms referred to in the statement of invention.

The cylinders 20 and 30 are supported upon a transverse shaft 15 (Fig. 2) one end of which is rotatably mounted in the frame member 13. The cylinder 20 is secured to the shaft 15 within the frame and the hand wheel 23 (Fig. 1) is secured to the shaft 15 on the outside of the frame member 13.

The cylinder 30 is freely rotatable upon the shaft 15 and has a cylindrical sleeve formed integral with the cylinder and extending through the frame member 14. The hand wheel 33 is mounted and secured to the cylindrical extension. With this construction each cylinder can be turned manually by its respective hand wheel without affecting the position of the other cylinder.

The cylinder 30 is provided with a chain 31 carrying rolls 32 exactly similar to the chain 21 and the rolls 22. Locking pawls 24 and 34 (Figs. 1 and 3) are pivotally supported at 25, (Fig. 3) upon an upward projection 14 of the cross girt 14 and are normally drawn together by a coil spring The pawl 24 cooperates with the locking disk 26 (Fig. 1) connected to turn with the cylinder 2 and the pawl 34 cotiperates with a similar disk 36 secured to the cylinder 30.

The cylinders 20 and 30 are provided with ratchet wheels 27 and 37 mounted to rotate with the cylinders and with the locking disks 26 and 36. Feed pawls 28 and 38 for feeding the ratchet wheels 27 and 37 are pivotally secured upon studs 60 and 61 carried by the upwardly extending arm 62 of a bell crank which is supported upon a short shaft 63 mounted in the projection 14 and the frame member 14. The horizontal arm 64 of the bell crank may be connected to any suitable part of the loom, such as the crank shaft, from which it will receive a reciprocatory motion in timed relation to the pick motion.

The indicating lever 10 is connected by a member 10 (Fig. 1) to an arm l0 which extends over the pattern cylinder 30. The indicating lever 11 is similarly connected by a member 11 to an arm 11 also extending over the cylinder 30. By this construction the indicating levers 10 and 11 may be directly controlled by either of the pattern 51 upon which are mounted rolls 42 and 52.

The cylinders are also provided with hand wheels 43 and 53 and with locking pawls 44 and 54 pivoted to the frame at 45 and maintained in operative relation by a coil spring 55.

The locking pawls coijperate with locking disks 46 and 56 (Fig. 1) which, together with ratchet wheels 47 and 57, are mounted to rotate with the cylinders 40 and 50. Feed pawls 48 and 58 constitute the driving means for the ratchet wheels 47 and 57 and are pivotally mounted upon studs 65 and 66 upon the arm 62 of the actuating bell crank. The construction and operation of the several parts of each of the four pattern cylinders is substantially identical and need not be further described.

In order to control the feeding of the several cylinders, we provide the feed pawls 28, 38, 48 and 58 with laterally extending frame members 13 and 14. The casting 290 is provided with a plurality of laterally projecting arms 291 having adjusting screws 292 (Fig. 5) in their outer extremities.

Weighted levers 293 are pivoted upon the transverse rod 12 and upon a corresponding transverse rod 12 at the opposite end of the frame and have their weighted ends 294 supported upon the adjusting screws 292 in the arms 291. Whenever either one of the Weighted levers 293 is allowed to rest its weighted end 294 upon one of the arms 291 the casting 290 will be rocked upon the rod 16 and the shield 29 will be raised into the path of the lug 28 upon the feed pawl 28. Reference to Fig. 3 will show that the shields are so shaped that when they are raised they will prevent the feed pawls from contacting with the ratchet wheels and rotating the pattern cylinders.

One of the weighted levers 293 which controls the position of the shield 29 extends over the pattern chain upon the cylinder 30 and is adapted to be raised by a roll 32 thereon. If no such roll is in operative position the weighted lever 293 will rest upon its arm 291 and the shield 29 will be raised. Separate levers 293 are also provided for each of the pattern cylinders 40 and 50, the levers being positioned to be operated by rolls on the pattern chains 41 and 51. The shield 29 is thus directly controlled by the rolls upon each one of the three pattern chains 31, 41, and 51.

In a precisely similar manner the castings 390, 490, and 590 are provided with arms 391, 491 and 591 carrying adjusting screws 392, 492 and 592 (Fig. 4) upon which rest weighted levers 393, 493 and 593 pivotally supported upon the rods 12 and 12 The casing 390 is provided with three arms 391 which coiiperate with three weighted levers 393, one lever being controlled by rolls upon each of the pattern chains 21, 41 and 51. The castings 490 and 590 however are each provided with two arms 491 and 591 instead of three, the weighted levers for operating these arms being controlled in each case by the rolls upon the pattern chains 21 and 31.

In Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 we have shown the shields 29, 39, 49 and 59 separately, and have also shown the weighted levers which control each separate shield. It will be clearly seen in these figures that the feeding of each of the pattern cylinders 20 and 30, which is controlled by the position of their respective shields 29 and 39, is dependent upon the conjoint operation of the three other pattern cylinders, while the operation of the cylin ders 40 and 50 is dependent upon the conjoint operation of the two cylinders 20 and 30.

In actual operation the pattern chains uponthe several cylinders may be designed to produce a great variety of sequences of operation. Ordinarily the chain upon the cylinder 20 is employed to control the actuation of the levers 10 and 11 while weaving the main or body portion of the design, and the pattern cylinder 30 is utilized for weaving a border at the end of the body portion or for some similar purpose.

The pattern cylinders 40 and 50 are principally used for multiplying or repeating the combinations called for by cylinders 20 and 30. For instance, the pattern cylinder 40 may be provided with a chain of forty links, while the pattern cylinder 50 may be provided with a chain of ten links.

If it is desired to allow the loom to run for sixty picks without changing the position of the drop boxes as called for by the cylinder 20, the pattern rolls upon the chains 21 and 31 will be so arranged that one of the weighted levers 493 which controls the shield 49 will be raised by a roll in the chain 31 and so that when the cylinder 20- is moved to a certain position the second weighted lever 493 which controls the shield 49 will be raised and the feed pawl 48 will thus be free to feed the pattern cylinder 40, the several parts of the apparatus being in the position shown in Fig. 1.

\Vhen the pattern cylinder 40 has completed its cycle of forty picks the cylinder 20 will be advanced one step without changing the position of the indicating levers. By thus advancing the cylinder 20 one step one of the levers 493 will be released to rest upon an arm 491 and raise the shield 49 to stop the feed of the cylinder 40. At the same time the lever 593 controlled by the cylinder 20 is raised. the lever 593 controlled by the cylinder 30 being already in raised position. The shield 59 is thus released and the pawl 58 is free to operate the cylinder 50 for its cycle of ten picks. The pattern cylinder 20 will then be advanced another step without changing the position of the indicating levers, this advance movement serving to start the cylinder 50 in operation for an additional ten picks. In this manner by the use of three links of the chain 21 upon the cylinder 20 the operation of the loom for sixty picks has been controlled. Similar combinations can be worked out with reference to the cylinder 30 and the number of different combinations thus attainable is unlimited.

Attention is particularly called to the simplicity of our device and to the symmetrical arrangement of the several elements.

It will be seen that we control the operation of each pattern cylinder by a single pawl which in turn is controlled and positioned by a single shield, while the position of the shield is determined by the conjoint operation of two or more additional pattern mec an sms.

Having thus described our invention it will be evident that many changes and modifications can be made therein by one skilled in the art without departing from-the spirit and scope of our invention as set forth in the claims, and therefore we do not wish to be limited to the details described herein but What we do claim is l. A pattern-operated controlled mechanism for looms having, in combination, a plurality of indicating levers, a primary pattern mechanism for operating said levers, means for feeding said patterns mechanism, a single device for rendering said feeding means inoperative, a plurality of secondary pattern mechanisms, and connections whereby any one of said secondary mechanisms can operate said single device to render the feeding means inoperative, independently of the remaining secondary pattern mechanisms.

2. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination. a plurality of pattern mechanisms, each including a ratchet wheel, a pawl for turn ing each wheel, means to reciprocate said pawls, a single controlling device for each pawl operable to render said pawl inoperative, and connections from the pattern mechanisms to said controlling device by which the device controlling any single pattern mechanism may be rendered operable by any one of the remaining pattern mechanisms independently of each other.

3. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a plurality of indicating levers, a pattern chain for operating said levers, a rotatable cylinder supporting said chain, a pawl for intermittently rotating said cylinder, a single shield for rendering said pawl in operative, a plurality of secondary pattern mechanisms, operating means therefor, and connections from each of said secondary mechanisms to said shield whereby each secondary mechanism is rendered independently effective to move said shield to render said pawl inoperative.

4. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a plurality of indicating levers, a pattern chain for operating said levers, a rotatable cylinder supporting said chain, a pawl for intermittently rotating said cylinder, a single shield for rendering said pawl inoperative, a pivotally movable support for said shield, additional pattern mechanisms, operating means therefor, and a plurality of levers each engaging said shield support and each independently controlled by one of said mechanisms and movable to actuate said shield to render said pawl inoperative.

5. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a

plurality of indicating levers, and a plurality of pattern mechanisms, each of said levers being directly operated by either one of two different pattern mechanisms, and being independently controlled by either one of two additional pattern mechanisms.

6. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a pair of primary pattern mechanisms, a pair of secondary pattern mechanisms, separate devices for at times preventing the feeding of the primary pattern mechanisms and connections whereby each of said devices is controlled by the conjoint operation of each of the other three pattern mechanisms.

7. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a pair of primary pattern mechanisms, a pair of secondary pattern mechanisms, separate devices for at times preventing the feeding of the different pattern mechanisms and connections whereby the devices for preventing the feeding of each primary pattern mechanism are each controlled by the conjoint operation of the other three pattern mechanisms, and whereby the devices for preventing the feeding of each of the secondary pattern mechanisms are each controlled by the conjoint operation of the two primary pattern mechanisms.

8. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms, having, in combination, four pattern cylinders axially alined in pairs upon two parallel shafts, ratchet wheels for feeding said cylinders, a feed pawl for each wheel, said pawls being mounted upon a single reciprocating arm pivotally mounted between the shafts, and means for controlling the effective operation of said pawls, said means including a single shield for each pawl, a separate casting upon which each shield is mounted, said castings being pivoted in pairs between said cylinder shafts and pattern controlled levers for moving said castings and shields, each casting, shield and pawl being directly controlled by each of a plurality of levers operated by different pattern cylinders. Q

9. A pattern-operated controlling mechanism for looms having, in combination, a primary pattern mechanism, means for feeding said mechanism, a device for rendering being mounted upon a pivoted melnber havset our hands, in the presence of two subing a plurality of laterally extending arms,

scribing witnesses. adjusting screws in said arms, a plurality ALBERT A. GORDON, JR. of weighted levers each resting on one of EPPA H. RYON. said screws, and additional pattern mecha- Witnesses: nism to raise said levers from said screws.

CHARLES F. HUTCHINS, In testimony whereof we have hereunto J. B. SYME.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

